A smart man once told me, “If you want to make sure something gets done, give it to someone who is busy all the time.”

In my travels I have found that formula to be true.  Time after time after time.  Every time I had to make certain that an important mandate was carried out correctly, and in the right time frame, I gave the chore to someone that was busy.

People who are constantly busy are in that condition because they can do a lot and handle a lot, AND because they have a bigger motor than the people with stuff sitting around on their desk, waiting to get finished.  Most of the folks with stationary, immovable tasks sitting and sleeping on their desk are the ones that get ‘caught’ in something they can’t seem to conclude or finish.  You can bet that if you choose to give the ‘caught’ crowd something important to do, the first response you are going to hear is “I’m busy.”

That’s because there are two different types of busy — the kind that are busy because they are PERFORMING and the kind that are busy because they CAN’T PERFORM.  Or maybe because they don’t want to perform — after all, it requires going into higher gear.  One group is busy, but they will NEVER say “I’m Busy” when asked to perform a chore. The other group will ALWAYS say “I’m Busy” because they are ‘busy’ struggling to get something done or are just dedicated to making sure they do not do more than the flawed job description they have in their head calls for.

A very important note — NEVER engage with the second group of ‘busy’ people in an emergency!  If you charge a member of the “I’m Busy” club with an important, last-second emergency action, you are doomed for failure. And, they will go to every end to make sure they have an excuse ready to tell you why the job wasn’t done on time.

As a matter of fact, the “I’m Busy” club will spend more time explaining why they didn’t do something than the action would have required to complete. Consider this quote from Lennox Morrison in the February 2017 edition of Capital, “Laura Simms, a Detroit, Michigan-based risk and safety specialist has some sage advice. “I’m really irritated when I hear the ‘b’ word,” she says.  And, she adds, it’s meaningless.”

Looks like the “I’m Busy” crowd has been busted.

Don’t ask me why—–I’m busy right now.